- There is a marketplace of ideas.
There is a marketplace for deeds and desires.
There are people that are competing over this world.
There are people that are competing for attention.
And there are people that are competing for the attention
of Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And the merchandise that Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
has promised us.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
what did he tell the Ansar, who were giving up everything
of this world, everything material,
everything that's immaterial in terms of safety
and security.
What did the Prophet's SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam tell them
they get in return? He said, you get Jannah.
And he said that the merchandise
of Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la is precious;
verily, the merchandise of Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
is Jannah.
So we talked about the degrees in Al-Jannah,
and how many degrees there are in Jannah.
And I just want you to think about the du'aa of al souk,
the du'aa of entering the marketplace.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said:
that whoever walks into the marketplace
and says, "La ilaha ill'Allah, wahdahu la sharika lah,
lahul mulku walahul hamd, yuhyi wayumeet,
wahuya hayyun la yamuut, biyadihil khair,
wahuwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadeer.'"
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, "Whoever says,
'there is no God, but Allah, alone without partner.
To Him belongs all sovereignty and praise.
He is the one who gives life
and He is the one who causes death,
and He is ever living and He does not die.
In His hand is all good, and He has power over all things."
Rasulullah SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
if you say this du'aa when you enter into the marketplace,
Allah will wipe out a million bad deeds
and give you a million good deeds,
and raise you by a million degrees,
and build for you a house in paradise.
Now you'll notice that the addition
to a very common du'aa here is the addition
of "yu'hyi wayumeet:" "He gives life and he gives death,
and He is everliving and He does not die."
There's something very powerful about that,
because you go to the marketplace in this life
to be enriched, but instead, you realize
that it's Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la that gives life
and death, and gives what is good.
So you choose to enrich yourself in Jannah with the du'aa
of the "souk," with the dua of the marketplace.
You know, a lot of times you might tell yourself,
I'm gonna say this du'aa,
and I've heard this from many people,
but you walk into the store and you immediately forget.
Why? Because you're immediately looking towards
what you want to buy, what you want to get.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam is reminding you
to say Allah gives life and death.
And what Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la grants in the afterlife
is far more beloved than anything that you can find
in this life.
And so you enrich yourself.
And obviously there's a wonder that comes from this hadith.
How many degrees in Jannah are there
if every single time you say this du'aa,
Allah elevates you by a million.
If you say this du'aa a hundred times in life,
a thousand times in life, even more,
is that going to run out in Jannah
or are you going to reach a peak in Al-Jannah
where you can't go any further?
And the answer is absolutely not,
because Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la is the one
who controls all time and place and reward.
And there is a correlation that you find here
between the marketplace of Jannah
and the marketplace of Dunya.
Now in this life, you have this contrast
between the places that are most beloved
to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
and the places that are most hated
to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
"the most beloved of places to Allah are the masajid,
are the mosques."
Why? Because Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la is worshiped
in the masajid.
And the most hated places to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
are the "as-waak," are the marketplaces.
And SubhanAllah, even then, you have a du'aa
for when you enter that gives you this unimaginable reward.
But if you think about these two places with each other.
You know the reward of going to the masjid is all increase,
but it's increase of what?
It's increase of good.
It's the removal of sin.
It's the writing of your good deeds.
It's the raising of your rank with every single step
as the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said.
Every single step that you take to the Masjid
is the wiping out of sins,
the writing down of good deeds,
and the raising of your rank in Al-Jannah.
So you're going to the Masjid to be increased.
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says,
"Ya ayyuhal latheena amanu itha noodiya lissalati
min yawmil jumu'ati fas'aw ila dhikrillah
watharul bayi' thalikum khayrun lakum in kuntum ta'lamun
"Oh you, who believe, when you hear the call
for the prayer on the day of Friday,
rush to the remembrance of Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
and leave behind your trade.
And that is far better for you if only you knew."
That this is a far more profitable transaction.
What you're going to get from the Masjid of reward
is far greater than what you would get
from your marketplace, what you would get from your trade.
So when you go to the Masjid, come with your attention,
come early, come ready, and look for proper increase,
and come with the remembrance of
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
Don't be distracted from what is actually greater.
Don't treat the Masjid and don't treat prayer
like it's a distraction from your actual pursuit.
Treat it like it is your actual means of pursuing
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
Now, how do we know if we're actually pursuing
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la when we see these places
with each other?
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says
Wa'itha ra'aw tijaratan aw lahwan infaddoo ilayha
watarakooka qa'ima qul ma 'inda Allahi khayrun mina
al lahwi wamina attijarati wallahu khayru arraziqeen
"That if they see some sort of a trade
or they see a worldly opportunity, then they leave you.
They leave you there, oh Messenger of Allah,
and they go following something of this world
and say that 'what is with Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
is far better than anything that you would get
from this world of play or of pay.'
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la is the best of sustainers."
And there is a Hadith from Abu Hurairah
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
that if meat or money was being distributed
in the masjid, people would rush to it.
And that's why Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
one time, he went out and he called the people
from the marketplace and he said that the inheritance
of the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
is being distributed in the masjid.
And so people just rushed.
They're in their business and they're thinking to themselves
well there's free money here.
So they didn't actually stop to think about, you know,
whether or not there is inheritance
from the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
to be distributed.
They just thought maybe there's a better deal here.
And so they left their marketplace and they went
to the masjid of the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.
And what did they find? They found a bunch of halaqat,
a bunch of circles of knowledge.
People studying Qur'an. People studying Hadith.
People studying fiqh.
And they went to Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
and they said to him, you know you said that the inheritance
of the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
was being distributed and we didn't see anything
being distributed.
He said, "well what did you find?"
They said, "we found all of these gatherings of knowledge."
He said, "that is the inheritance
of the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam."
It's that 'ilm, that knowledge that he leaves behind
because the prophets leave behind something
far more valuable than something of this world.
They leave behind what increases you in the afterlife.
Speaking of Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
Sa'eed ibn Musayib radiAllahu Anhu, he says that
"I met Abu Hurairah radiAllahu Anhu one day
and he said to me, 'make du'aa that Allah brings us together
in the marketplace of Jannah.'"
Sa'eed said, "Is there a marketplace in Jannah?"
And Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said,
"Yes Rasulullah SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam told me,
that when the people of Jannah enter into Jannah,
they will be placed in Jannah according to their deeds.
And then they will have permission on Friday,"
which is the greatest of days.
So just like it's the greatest day in this world,
it's the greatest day in Jannah as well. It is jumu'ah.
People gather on the day of Friday in the marketplace
of Jannah.
And there they will visit Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la,
who will appear on His throne in a garden of paradise.
And we'll talk about the specifics of that later on.
But think about this, you have jumu'ah in Jannah,
and it's in the marketplace.
Whereas here, you're told in Surahtul jumu'ah,
"leave the marketplace for jumu'ah in the masjid."
And jumu'ah in Jannah is to the "souk"
because you don't have Salatul jumu'ah anymore.
This is the place where you're now going to be rewarded.
This is not the place that you have to make sacrifice.
So the people gather in what is a "souk,"
what is the marketplace in Jannah.
And you go to the "souk" in Jannah
and you come back enriched and increased
just like you would go to the marketplace in this dunya
looking to be increased.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said
describing this place, he said,
that there is this marketplace in Jannah
that people visit on every Friday and
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la sends this wind that blows Musk
on their faces and on their garments
and they're increased in beauty and in goodness.
And when they go back home to meet their families,
their families will say to them,
"by Allah, you have increased in beauty and goodness."
And you would say back to your family,
"you too by Allah, have increased in beauty
and in goodness."
So everyone goes to the marketplace on jumu'ah.
They meet with one another. They meet with their friends.
They meet with the leaders of the companions.
They meet with the prophets.
They meet with Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And then they come back far more beautified.
But don't you also wanna shop?
You absolutely go to the marketplace in Jannah
and you take what you want, but you don't have to worry
about a budget when you shop here.
And SubhanAllah, how many people go to a shop
or go to a marketplace and they wish they had a little more.
So they work more to buy that extra product.
But in Jannah, you don't have to worry about cash or credit.
You don't have to worry about a budget.
It's all for you. And you take as much as you want.
You also don't have to worry about the inventory being gone.
So you know this is especially true when you think
about holiday season.
You know, everyone takes certain products.
This is a place where you pick a fruit from a tree
and another fruit grows in its place.
So the inventory in Jannah does not run out.
And everyone thinks that they only have the best
that Jannah has to offer.
So you have as much money as you want
and you have as much product as you want.
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la continues to give you more
and more and more and increase you in this marketplace
of Al-Jannah.
But again, here you juxtapose the masjid
with the marketplace as Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la does.
And the places of worship in the broader sense
and the places of sin.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said that,
"Whoever takes a bath on Friday, does 'ghusl' on Friday,
and then goes for the prayer.
Those that arrive in the first hour, meaning early,
it's as if they have sacrificed a camel in the way
of Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And those who arrive in the second hour,
it's as if they sacrificed the cow.
And those who arrive in the third hour,
then it is as if you have sacrificed a horned ram.
And those who arrive in the fourth hour,
it's as if you sacrificed a hen for the sake of Allah.
And those who arrive in the fifth hour,
it's as if you offered an egg for the sake of Allah.
And once the imam comes out and starts delivering
the Khutbah, the angels present themselves to listen
to the Khutbah." So they close their role book.
So the earlier you get to jumu'ah,
the more you are increasing in the jumu'ah of Al-Jannah.
And in one narration, the closest to Allah are the closest
to the imam on the mimbar.
And that doesn't necessarily mean the physical proximity,
but what it refers to is the speed
at which you got to the Masjid.
Those who are closest to the imam on the mimbar
are those who got to to the masjid first.
And who do you think is going to be closest
to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
when He addresses the gathering
of jumu'ah in Jannah.
And who would you want to see in the first row with you?
Ya ayyatuha anafsul
mutma'inna
Irji'ee ila rabbiki
radiyatan mardiyya
Fadkhulee fee 'ibadee
Wadkhulee jannatee
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